Is your business safe from hackers? Two thirds of small businesses have fallen victim to cybercrime in the past two years, costing the UK economy £5.26bn, according to research from the Federation of Small Businesses.
The majority of attacks are phishing and spear phishing, where cybercriminals target individuals, rather than computer systems.
As cybersecurity software has become more sophisticated, small businesses’s employees have become easier targets. A common method among hackers, for example, is to pose as a company boss in an email and persuade an employee to urgently wire company money to an account.
Meanwhile, the more traditional form of cybercrime, infecting company equipment with malware, is still a problem. It accounts for 29% of cyber-attacks experienced by small businesses.
Such attacks are destructive to businesses’s finances and reputation. So how can small business owners and staff learn to spot – and stop – them?
In this webchat, we’ll cover the common and emerging cybercrime trends and discuss how small businesses can avoid them – from staff training to employing ethical hackers to carry out fake attacks, identifying vulnerabilities.
Put your questions to our experts from 1-2pm on Monday 21 November.
Taking part is simple: just register to comment. Once you’ve signed up, you can post your questions in the comments thread below this article. Alternatively, tweet @GdnSmallBiz with your questions, or email them to smallbusinessnetwork@theguardian.com and we will put them to the panel for you. Comments are currently open and we welcome questions in advance.
Our panel
James Snook is deputy director, cyber and government security directorate in the Cabinet Office. He has held a number of roles across the cabinet office and HM Treasury. His career has focused on national security, and cyber security, especially, in recent years.
David Jeffrey is director, head of product, fraud and security at Barclaycard payment solutions.
Jamie Randall is chief technology officer of IASME Consortium, a company that helps organisations protect their information. IASME was closely involved in the development of cyber essentials, a basic information security standard developed with the government. Randall is also the founder of The Friendly Nerd, a startup specialising in cyber and data security training.
Jenny Radcliffe is an independent security consultant and trainer who specialises in social engineering, in which people, rather than IT systems, are the target of cyber criminals. She trains businesses in how to protect themselves, and is the host of The Human Factor podcast.
Del Heppenstall leads KPMG’s cyber security teams across the UK’s southern and midlands regions. With nearly 20 years’ experience in information protection and cyber security, his expertise ranges from security strategy through to technical security implementation.
Paula Barret is head of data privacy and partner at Eversheds law firm.
Cindy Ng is a security and privacy expert at Varonis, an American software company that offers software solutions to protect data from insider threats and cyberattacks.
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